Charged particle beams, such as focused ion beam systems and electron beam systems, direct charged particles onto a work piece for processing the work piece or for forming an image of the work piece. Charged particle beam systems are used, for example, in integrated circuit fabrication and other nanotechnology processing. Charged particles beam systems typically include a source of particles, a beam blanker, accelerating lenses, focusing optics, and deflection optics.
A charged particle source may be, for example, a liquid metal ion source, a plasma ion source, or a thermal field electron emitter, such as a Schottky emitter. A beam blanker interrupts the beam by directing it away from the work piece and into a solid stopping material.
The focusing optics focus the beam into a spot or a predefined shape on the surface of a sample. Focusing optics typically include a combination of condenser lenses and an objective lens. The lens can be electrostatic, magnetic, or various combinations of the two. Charged particle lenses, like light lenses, have aberrations that prevent the particles from being focused to a shape image. The aberration is least for charged particles passing through the center of the lens, and the aberration increases as the distance from the center of the lens increases. It is desirable, therefore, for the charged particle beam to pass very near the center of the lens. One type of aberration, referred to as “beam interaction” occurs because the particles in the beam, all having the same electrical charge, repel each other. The closer the particles are to each other, the greater the repulsive force. Because the particles are typically converging after passing through the objective lens, it is desirable to position the objective lens as close as possible to the work piece, to reduce the time that the particles are focused in a tight beam. The distance between the objective lens and the work piece is referred to as the “working distance.”
The deflection optics direct the beam to points, referred to as “dwell points” or “pixels,” on the surface of the work piece. For example, the beam may be directed in a raster pattern, in a serpentine pattern, or toward an arbitrary sequence of individual points. The beam will typically dwell at a point for a specified period, referred to as “dwell period,” to deliver a specified “dose” of charged particles, and then be deflected to the next dwell point. The duration of the dwell period is referred to as the “dwell time” or the “pixel rate.” (While pixel “rate” more properly refers to the number of pixels scanned per second, the term is also used to indicate the time the beam remains at each pixel.)
The deflection optics can be magnetic or electrostatic. In focused ion beam systems, the deflection optics are typically electrostatic. Electrostatic deflectors for focused ion beam are typically octupoles, that is, each deflector includes eight plates, distributed around the circumference of a circle. Different voltages are applied to the eight plates to deflect the beam away from the optical axis in different directions.
If the deflector is placed below the objective lens, the beam can pass through the center of the objective lens to minimize aberration. Such a configuration is used, for example, in the VisION System sold by FEI Company, the assignee of the present invention. Placing the deflector below the objective lens, however, increases the working distance, thereby increasing the beam aberration.
To minimize the working distance, one can place the deflector above the objective lens. With the deflector above the lens, however, when the beam is deflected, it is moved away from the center of the lens, thereby increasing certain aberrations. To solve this problem, many focused ion beam systems use a two stage deflector 100 as shown in FIG. 1 to deflect a beam 102 from an optical axis 104. A first stage 110 deflects the beam 102 to one side of optical axis 104, and the second deflector 114 deflects the beam back to the other side of optical axis 104 so that the beam 102 passes through the center of an objective lens 120, but at an angle such that the beam is deflected to be in the correct position as it impacts a work piece 122. Voltages of the same magnitude are typically applied to both stages of the deflector to achieve the desired deflection.
Charged particle beams process or image work pieces by delivering a calculated number of particles to precise locations on the work piece. Each particle causes a change in the work piece and the ejection of secondary particles. To precisely control the processing, one must control the number of particles impacting each point on the surface. As features of the work pieces processed by charged particle beams get ever smaller, charged particle beams must be able to more precisely deliver a controlled number of ions to each small point on the work piece surface. This precise control requires deflectors that can rapidly move a beam from pixel to pixel, while delivering the correct dose of particles to each pixel.